


Family 101

by leiascully



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Family, Family Feels, Gen, The X-Files Revival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-08
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-30 13:57:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5166374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiascully/pseuds/leiascully
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I’ve got this project for school.  I have to talk to you about a significant event in your lives and then write about it.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family 101

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: XF revival  
> A/N: From a prompt on tumblr  
> Disclaimer: _The X-Files_ and all related characters are the property of Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Fox Studios. No profit is made from this work and no infringement is intended.

William sighed. He had put it off for a few days, but his family history project was due the next morning. His teachers had ganged up: he had to interview family members about some kind of significant event in their lives (there was a list of suggestions, all boring), and then write a narrative about it, working in both historical objectivity in his questioning techniques and creative writing skills in his narrative. They’d given it some cutesy name he’d immediately forgotten, but the gist was that he had to talk to his family, not the thing he most wanted to do with his day, as a rule, especially a Saturday morning. He liked them and all, but sixteen and adopted was an awkward situation. He had a limited range of family to choose from: his parents, and that was it. Granted, they were his legitimate biological parents, who had found him by some weird quirk of fate so out of left field that he’d demanded to see DNA results. But he’d known the moment he saw them. He had his mother’s hair. He had his father’s eyes. 

“Mom,” he called as he clattered down the stairs, phone in hand.

“Will,” she responded, and he followed her voice to the kitchen. She was sitting at the table, typing something, but she smiled when she saw him. Pop was leaning against the counter, drinking a cup of coffee. He hadn’t known what to call them at first - they weren’t his Ma and Dad, for sure. He’d gone with Mulder and Scully for a few weeks, since that was what they called each other (weird, but whatever, he’d seen weirder stuff), but one day they’d just become Mom and Pop and that was that. They’d seemed startled too, but they’d all gotten used to each other.

“What’s up?” Pop said.

“I’ve got this project for school,” Will said, slouching into a chair. He’d started to get tall this year, and he wasn’t really used to it yet. “I have to talk to you about a significant event in your lives and then write about it.”

They gave each other one of those Looks, the kind that was somehow even more mysterious and irritating and knowing than the Looks most adults used. He kind of liked it, though. They had seen even weirder stuff than he had. It was nice to know that they had a plan, or at least some kind of code. 

“Fire away,” Pop said, sitting backwards in a chair, bringing his coffee with him. Mom closed her laptop and leaned forward on her elbows.

“I have to record it,” Will told them, holding up his phone. 

“We’ve had worse,” Mom murmured, and Pop winked at her. Will ignored them. It hadn’t taken more than a couple of days to figure out that his parents expressed their fondness for each other through vague references and loaded glances and Pop looming over Mom and touching her back. At least they weren’t gross like some people’s parents. Ma and Dad had been a little gross sometimes. 

“So,” Will said, running his finger up and down the list of significant events, most of which were really stupid and wouldn’t make a good story. At least a few of them seemed mostly bearable, unlike “where did you go on your first date?”, which he didn’t really want to hear about, given that he had yet to go on a date in his life. Extenuating circumstances, but still. “Um. How did you guys meet?”

Another Look, another smile, another sip of coffee for Pop. “You want to tell it or shall I?” he said to Mom, who was gazing at him with soft eyes. 

“March sixth, 1992,” she said in a warm voice. “I was a green agent barely out of Quantico. I hadn’t worked an actual case yet, just helped out with autopsied. And one day they called me up and assigned me a partner. Fox Mulder. I was supposed to debunk his work on unexplained cases that he claimed involved paranormal phenomena.”

“My spooky reputation preceded me,” Pop said, with a facetious edge to his voice.

“Yes, it did,” Mom said, sounding amused. “But I walked right up to your office door anyway, and I knocked firmly. And you told me there was nobody there but the FBI’s most unwanted.” 

“You came in anyway,” Pop said, grinning at her.

“I did,” she said. “And I shook your hand. And you changed my life.” 

“Me and my spiel about aliens among us,” Pop said with a crooked smile.

“Well, there were,” she said. “Apparently.”

“Still,” Pop told her, “anyone in her right mind would have turned and walked right out of there.”

“Aren’t you lucky that I thought you were cute?” Mom shot back. 

“That wasn’t it,” Pop said with a smile. “It was the challenge. Anybody who would rewrite Einstein wouldn’t back down from a challenge.”

“That too,” Mom said.

“You rewrote Einstein?” Will asked. “Why haven’t I heard about this in science class?”

“My senior thesis discussed Einstein’s Twin Paradox,” Mom said, giving Dad one of those sideways smiles. “Nothing groundbreaking, really.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Pop said. “It was brilliant. I knew I’d met my match before I was halfway through it. Integrity, inquisitiveness, a sense of humor, a mind as sharp as her scalpel - your mom had it all. Plus she was a better shot than me. That’s something you look for in a partner.”

“I knew I’d met mine when you showed me that chemical compound they found in the marks,” Mom said. “You were so excited about the research it would take to discover what it was.”

“Wow,” Will said, and they both managed to drag their eyes away from each other and look at him. “I didn’t know science could be completely sappy.”

“It’s amazing what you’ll learn over the next few years, kid,” Pop said, reaching for Mom’s hand.

“Is that good enough for your project?” Mom asked.

“Yeah,” Will said. “I think I got it.”

“Remember,” Pop said, “it’s pretty much a straight line from that day to you existing, so don’t knock completely brushing off a girl as a great pickup line.”

Mom rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell him these things. And it was nothing like a straight line.” She reached out for Will, who let her take his hand, to his own surprise. “But it’s part of why you’re here. And we’re very glad you are.”

“Yeah,” Will said. “Me too.”

“We love you,” Mom said, letting go, and Pop nodded. “Feel free to ask us things any time.”

“We’ll tell you everything that isn’t classified,” Pop agreed solemnly. “And some of the stuff that is.”

“Really?” Will asked.

Mom nodded. “That’s part of your heritage, Will.”

“Somebody’s got to shine light into the shadows when we’re gone,” Pop added. 

“But we’ll be around for a long time yet,” Mom said, squeezing Pop’s hand.

“Yeah,” Will said. “Good.” He tapped his phone to turn off the record function. “Thanks.”

“Any time,” said Pop.


End file.
